Metal car roof



Feb. 7, 1933. c. E. GIBBS ET AL METAL CAR ROOF Filed March 22, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l Feb. 7, 1933. c. E. GIBBS ET AL 1,896,891

METAL CAR ROOF Filed March 22, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Feb. 7, 1933 UNITED STATES CHARLES E. GIBBS AND ALDEN B. LAWSON, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND METAL GAR ROOF Application filed March 22, 1929. Serial No. 349,106.

While our invention may be embodied in car roofs in general, we have elected to 111118- trate and describe it in connection with roofs for passenger cars.

Roofs with upstanding seams or jolnts have been used on passenger cars, but they are objectionable from many standpointsas, for instance, the difficulty of maintaining air and water tight joints when the car is running at a high speed against a storm. To overcome the objection to the upstanding seam the rigid flat seam type of roof formed of thick steel sheets was adopted for passenger cars, but in the use of this type of roof 1t is necessary to make the assembly of the roof on the car before the inside ceiling or finish in the car is applied. Again, inmaking a repair to this flat seam roof, or to renew the roof on an old car, it is necessary to take down '20 both the ceiling and the inside finish ofthe car in order to reapply the flat seam type of roof. Therefore, to reapply the present flat seam type of roof there is not only the expense of removing and reapplying the interior ceiling and inside finish, but also considerable time is consumed in preparing for the application of such a roof and refinishing the interior of the car after it is applied.

The primary object of our invention is to provide a flat seamed roof for a passenger car of such construction and arrangement that in the event of a repair the repair to the roof may be made from the exterior of the car without disturbing the ceiling or inside finish of the car; and another object of our inven tion is to provide a rigid flat seamedroom made of thick steel sheets and which is free from the objections to the roof structures heretofore in use; and with these and other objects in view our invention consists of the parts and combination of parts as will be ereinafter set forth.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a detail perspective view of an upper and lower deck portion of a car to which our roof has been applied.

Figure 2 is an enlarged detail sectional View. a

Figures 3, 4,5 and 6 show several embodi ments of my invention.

Figure 7 is a more orless diagrammatic View longitudinally of two roof sheets and a bow sheet applied to a car. i i

In the drawingsthe numeral 1 designates a passenger car of any desired construction. d?

In building new cars for our type of roof any desired form of carline may be used, but we prefer to make the carlines 2 with a horizontal top flange 8, and we prefer to havethe top flange of the first carline near the end of 5 the car to face outwardly with the saidflange projecting toward the end of the car. The other carlines throughout the length of the car we prefer to range so that the top flanges 3, 17, 25, 31 and 34 project toward the other end of the car so that with the exception of one of the end carlines the top flanges of all of the carlines including the other end 'PATENT oFF c-E carline project in the same direction. We 7 prefer that allof the carlines be coated with 7? a suitable cement before the roof is applied to the car, but this is optional with the car builder. I I I In practicing our invention we rivet thebow end of the first roof sheet 5 to the flange 3 37 of the end carline 2 as at 6, and the other end of the sheet 5 is likewise riveted at 7 to the second carline 2, the extreme inner end of the sheet 5 projecting, preferably, beyond the end of the flange 3 of the second carline. 3

The next succeeding sheet 8 is riveted at 9 to the flange 3 of the third carline 2, the end of the sheet projecting beyond the flange 3. The

bow end of the roof sheet 8 is then welded at v 10 to the roof sheet 5 to one side of the rivets 7 The next roofing sheet 11 is applied by riveting to the next succeeding carline'and welded at its bow end to thesheet 8 as has been described in connection with the securing of sheet 8, and the securing of the suc- 19 ceeding sheets of the roof of the car to the other end of the carproceeds as described in connection with sheet 8. j

The bow sheet 12 is preferably welded at 13 to the bow end of the sheet5 and outside of the line of rivets 6 theextreme outer end of the bow sheet 12 may be suitably riveted 'We prefer to coat the underside of the roo in this position is to protect the usual roof in sulation 16' from the heat incident to the welding of the car roof sheets, and before the roof sheets are applied we prefer to apply the roof insulation 16, which insulation is protected against the heat of the weldby the insulating member'15. While it is possibleto eliminate the insulating memberflfi we prefer touse it as in addition to the protection it affords during welding, it serves there'after as an extra guard against heat exchange at the ,joint and as aprotective pad to prevent attrition of the material 16 from rubbing en gagement with the carline and roof sheets,

and it further-serves as a dampener to reduce vibration and noise at this point. 1

In cars b-uiltfor other types of'roofs we have found in applying our improved roof to the carlines of such cars that the 'carlines are not in some cases particularly adapted to receive'our improved roof, because the flanges of the carlines do not always point in the same direction, therefore, in order to adapt the old carlines to receive our improved roof we apply an angle iron17 to the carline 18 and secure it thereto by means of the rivet '19,

as shown in; Fig. 2, and in this connection it will be seen from the drawings thatthe far end of the sheetQOis riveted at 21 to the angle bar; 17 and that the next succeeding sheet 22 is applied as has'beendescribe'd in connectionwith sheet 8. I j

,Anotherexpedient for adapting old car lines for our improved roof is to apply to the usualplate 24 of the carline 23 an angle bar .25 to which the sheet 26 is riveted at 27, as

shown'in Fig. 3, and the succeeding sheet 28 is secured in the manner described in connection with applying sheet8.

Asshownin Figure'6 of the drawings in 150' connection withthe original carline 29 we can rivet'an angle 30 to that carline with the top flange 31 of the angle spaced above the top angle 32 of the original carline forming an insulating space '38 between the two memhers, for a full welded roof."

drawings, rivet to the carline 34 a suitable in- We may also, as shown in Figure 5 in the sulating member 35 spaced below the top flange of the carline to form an insulating 6 space 36 fora full welded roof.

. As stated, in placing our improved roof on the old carit is necessary before proceeding with the application of the new roof to have the top flanges of thecarlines pointing all in the same direction except the first one adj acent to the bow which, as has-been explained,

is to be applied in the opposite direction for riveting new sheets. If some of the carlines have flanges in the old cars pointing in 0pposite direction, it is necessary to rivet to these old carlines the angles and platesv as herein described.

In building new cars the ca-rlines are applied with the topfianges of the carlines pointing all in the same direction except the first one adjacent to the bow so that after the first sheet has been riveted on the successive sheets can be applied as above described, riveting the far edge and welding the near edge to the top of the succeeding sheet, the welding joint being as near a rivet as is possible. i i

In the application" of our, newroof the roof. sheets are not onlysecurelytied to the carlines making a rigid superstructure, but also eliminates the possibility of leakage nearthe roof joints. 1

In applying ing our invention onev ofthe major expenses incidentto repairing a'roof is eliminated, namely, the necessity of removing the ceiling and interior finish of the car. In using our improved car roof a repair may be made without disturbing or, in. any way, removing or damaging the ceiling or interior finish.

Another important advantage of our invention is that it allows a roof to be built of comparatively thick steel sheets,of a thickness of .078, for example, to providea roof rigid enough to be unaffected by weaving I I 5100 and twisting strains of thecar and which does not require auxiliary bracing or rein forcing or necessitatethe use of thin roof material formed with jointsconstructedto allow cushioning movements'to compensate for weaving and. twisting of the car, and which joints render, the roof difficult. torepair and to keepin leak-proof condition. Our construction not only avoids these obj ections, and provides a roof which is sufiicient- 1y stiff for the trainman to walk and stand upon without injury to it, but which is free from joints liable to leak and is capable of being applied or repaired, as stated, without the necessity of disturbing the ceiling and inside finish of the car in the working oper- .ation. 7

Of course, it is understood. that the upper and lower deck roofs are of the same construction.

The term near edge means that edge of tion is started, and the term far edge means that edge of the roof sheet remote from such bow.

As shown in Figures 5 and 6, we may butt weld the edges of, contiguous roof sheets, the weld being designated at 37.

What we claim is;

and repairing roofs embodysub a roof sheet nearest thebow where applica- 1. In a car roof the combination with can.

line structures, a first .roofsheetriveted at both its far and near edge port-ions to two adjacent carlines, a second roof sheet riveted at its far edge portion only to a third carline and welded at its near edge to the far edge portion of the said first sheet, and additional roof sheets to complete the roof secured to succeeding carlines and sheets in a manner similar to the second sheet.

2. In a car roof the combination with carlines having flanges at their tops, of a first roof sheet riveted at both its far and near edge portions to two adjacent carlines, and resting on said flanges, a second roof sheet riveted at its far edge portion only to the flange of a third carline, and welded at its near edge to the far edge portion of the first sheet, and additional roof sheets to complete the roof secured to succeeding carlines and sheets in a manner similar to the second sheet.

3. In a car roof the combination with carlines having flanges at their tops, of a first roof sheet riveted at both its far and near edge portions to two adjacent carlines, and resting on said flanges, a second roof sheet riveted at its far edge portion only to the flange of a third carline, and welded at its near edge to the far edge portion of the first sheet, and additional roof sheets to complete the roof secured to succeeding carlines and sheets in a manner similar to the second sheet, the roof structure having a heat insulating zone underlying each carline flange to which a sheet is riveted.

4. In a car roof the combination with carline structures, a first roof sheet riveted at its far and near edge portions to two adjacent carlines, a second roof sheet riveted at its far edge portion to a third carline and welded at its near edge to the far edge portion only of the said first sheet and additional roof sheets to complete the roof secured to succeeding carlines and sheets in a manner similar to the second sheet, insulation material under the roof sheets, and an anti-friction heat nonconductor shield secured above the said'insulation material in each zone of welding whereby the insulation isprotected from undue wear and from the heat incident to welding.

5. In a car roof the combination with transverse carlines having top flanges extending laterally therefrom all pointing in the same direction longitudinally of the car except the first one at the bow, the flange of which points in an opposite direction, a first root sheet riveted at its far and near edge portions to the flanges of the first and second carlines, a second roof sheet riveted at its far edge portion only to the flange on the third carline and welded at its near edge to the far edge portion of the first roof sheet, and additional roof sheets to complete the roof securcd tov succeeding carlines and sheets S11111- lar to the second roof sheet.

6. A carroof including an end carline having a flange projecting toward one end of the car, and a'series of carlines having flanges all 'extendingtoward the opposite end of the "car, a first roof sheet riveted at one end to the flange of the first-named carline and at its of the series, and other roof sheets suc cessively secured together and to the carlines at their contiguous edges respectively by riveting and welding in the direction toward the second named .end of the car.

7. A car roof including carlines, a plurality of roof sheets'secured together and to the carlines at their contiguousedges by rivetingjto the carlines and welding to each insulating material. j j

8. A car roof comprising a series of carlines having flanges, the carline atone end of the series having its flange projecting toward the adjacent end of the car and the remaining carlines of the series all having their flanges projecting toward the opposite ends of the car, an eaves molding at each 7' end of the car beyond the adjacent end carline of the series, a bow sheet riveted to each eaves molding and the adjacent end carline, a first roof sheet riveted at its near end edges to the flange of the first-named carline and at its far end edge to the flange of the next adjacent carline of the series, a second roof sheet welded at the near edge to the far edge of the first roof sheet and riveted at its far edge to the flangeof the third carline,

and other roof sheets secured to each other opposite end to the flange of the nextcarline and the remaining carlines of the series in a manner similar to the second roof sheet.

9. The method of applying a car roof,

which consists in providing on the car a series of transverse flanged roof supporting carlines, with the flange of one of the end carlines of the series projecting toward the adjacent end of the car and the flanges of the second and all the other carlines of the series projectingtoward the opposite end of the car, riveting the near and far edge portions of the first roof sheet respectively to riveting the far edge of the second roof sheet to the flange of the third carline of the series, and then applying the third and successive sheets to the flanges of succeeding carlines and to each other in a manner similar to the second sheet from said third carline to the final carline at the second-named end of'the car.

10. The method of applyinga car roof to a car having a series of roof supporting car-" .lines, some of which are provided with upper e horizontal flanges and othersof which are v devoid of such flanges, which consists in pro- 7 viding the second-named carlines with flanges attached, thereto,-riveting the near andf'ar edge portions of the first roof sheet respectively-to the flanges of the first and second carlines, welding the near edge of the second roof sheet to the far edge of the first sheet and riveting the far edge of the second vroof sheet tothe flange of the third carline of the series, and then applying the third and successive sheets to the flanges of succeeding carlines and to each other in a manner similar to thesecond sheet from said third carline to the finalcarline at the second-named end of the car. V I 11. A car roof includinga: transverse carline having a lateral flange and a roof sheet secured at one edge to-the contiguous edge of. said flange by riveting and an adjacent roof sheet overlapping the edge of the first and united thereto by welding.

. In testimony whereof we aflix our signatures. r

' CHARLES E. GIBBS. ALDEN B. LAWSON. 

